If you need a mask and you can't sew, this might help. 
http://blog.japanesecreations.com/no-sew-face-mask-with-handkerchief-and-hair-tie

Why not just wear a bandanna? This fits on your face more snugly, and you'll see that it has more layers. 

How am I supposed to get an 18" square of fabric? Dude, if I can cut up a pair of pajama pants, you can cut up an old t-shirt or a pillow case. 

I put away my sewing rig for now, I was tired of having it take up the entire living room. It's streamlined now and I brought it up to my office. I'm still obsessed with watching mask tutorials, though: the idea of making something flat into something three dimensional and useful continually astonishes me. 

I accidentally added a blank post to my queue, and it posted. 
Okay. 

In other news, what was that thing Boutell said about intelligence and wisdom being separate D&D scores? 

Astrophysicist gets magnets stuck up nose while inventing COVID-19 prevention device​​​​​​​

what can I say, except, "you're welcome..."

Today I learned that a last name like mine (Harris Friel) is known as a double barreled surname.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-barrelled_name#British_tradition

I will be sure to use this information the next time they can't find my prescription at CVS and try to shame me for not allowing myself to be absorbed into patriarchal standards of naming conventions. 

I'm working on an article about bullet journaling for podcasters, specifically about handwriting vs. writing on a keyboard. I came across this James Pennebaker guy, and his research into the therapeutic value of writing. I'm linking to Wikipedia instead of a more credible resource because, as I write this, I have something like 40 tabs open on my computer right now, and this bit of info felt most important to share: 
"These results have hatched further studies, numbering over 200. One of these went on to strongly suggest that expressive writing has the potential to actually provide a 'boost' to the immune system, perhaps explaining the reduction in physician visits. This was shown by measuring lymphocyte response to the foreign mitogens phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (ConA) just prior to and 6 weeks after writing. The significantly increased lymphocyte response led to speculation that expressive writing enhances immunocompetence. The results of a preliminary study of 40 people diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder suggests that routinely engaging in expressive writing may be effective in reducing symptoms of depression."

What I can't figure out from this is whether or not the study participants wrote using pen or pencil and paper, writing longhand, if they typed, or either. 

Vince and I were driving home on Kelly Drive. He was driving, I was catching up on email on my phone. 

ME: Hey honey, John Hodgman has a new podcast.

VINCE: Mmhm.

ME: he's recapping and discussing "I, Claudius." 

VINCE: Surprise, surprise.

ME: Guess what it's called.

VINCE: (stops breathing)

ME: "I, Podibus."

VINCE: (Long sigh)

ME: Guess how it's spelled.

VINCE: GET OUT. 

~fin~

Random thought:

I was thinking about all the people who have played The Stage Manager in Our Town. Fred Gwynne, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, that gangly, folksy archetype. Then I thought, yeah, like James Comey. 

Holy shit. What if we’re all extras in an Our Towniverse, a Thornton Wilderness, and the Stage Manager is James Comey? 

I thought, this is a thought for Brett Heller.  He said, “can we go back and look at a single day in our lives? Lordy, I hope there are tapes.” 

If we’re living in the Thornton Wilderness, I guess I have to start liking Hello, Dolly. 

Apple changed the way it categorizes its podcasts. Instead of audio fiction/audio drama being buried in "personal journals" or "performing arts," it now has a category, Fiction. It even has subcategories: Fiction>Drama, Fiction>Sci-Fi or Fiction> Comedy. 

WELL, LOOKIE HERE:

At 5:53 pm on August 21, 2019, Jarnsaxa Rising is 58 out of 60 on the Fiction>Drama chart for Apple Podcasts. 

I know it's highly subjective, but after not being visible among my peers for so long, this is flippin' HUGE. 

Here's another thing that's cuckoo-bananas. Last week we were the #3 podcast in Fiction in South Korea. 

Today I'm editing a review of a microphone made specifically for podcasters. My supervisor wrote the article. The mic is called the Podcaster, and it's made by Rode. He opened the article with, "At our office, we have more Rodes than the Roman Empire." 

In the summary paragraph, I added, "It's a colossus among the podcasting-tool hegemony." 

Found while purging & packing: excerpt from a comedy sketch I wrote during the summer of 2014. Probably NSFW.